


Night Terrors

by Toni_Lynne



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Comfort, F/M, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-09
Updated: 2017-12-09
Packaged: 2019-02-12 09:00:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12955839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Toni_Lynne/pseuds/Toni_Lynne





	Night Terrors

After hunting for years you had come to believe you were immune to the horrors of this world. If standing face to face with the devil and the alpha vampire didn’t trigger a nightmare, nothing could. Right?

_Wrong._

It was a salt and burn, a simple ghost in an old barn outside Cleveland.   Everything about that hunt should have been easy and quick. Go in, find his bones, burn him. Done.

But when the sixteen year old girl disappeared while you were there and the case went from an old ghost to a group of people sacrificing young girls to please the ghost because they read about it in an online horror story, you broke down. 

Demons, monsters, angels, vampires – easy to explain and handle. Humans harming other humans in such a brutal fashion? That was different.

It started with nightmares. Cold hands grabbing you by the throat, hissing voices threatening your life, hooded eyes watching you. You would wake up in a cold sweat with a scream lodged in your throat. You tried sleeping with the lights on and the radio playing but it didn’t seem to help.

For a while you kept the nightmares a secret from the boys and Castiel but once the night terrors began you couldn’t hide that something was wrong anymore.

You would wake up screaming, your cheeks wet with tears and your body trembling so hard you thought you would break a bone. The first time it happened Sam and Dean were of course concerned, but thought it was a one-time nightmare.

When it happened again the next two nights they realized something was wrong. Dean suggested self-medication with a few shots of whiskey before bed and you tried, but it didn’t work. If anything it made worse because once the screaming and trembling was done you threw up. 

Sam downloaded meditation apps on your phone and the two of you would try the breathing exercises before bed to clear your mind and relax your body. That didn’t help either.

Cas sent his grace through you several times with a touch on the forehead, assuming it was something he could heal like a sprained ankle or a gun shot wound. But nothing changed.

Then it got worse. The boys would wake up to the sounds of you screaming and find you out in the library, still in your pajamas, crouched under a table asleep and screaming like you were being murdered.

It was to the point where no one was sleeping well.  Hunting had come to a complete stop. The first time you had a night terror at a motel the police were called when other guests thought someone was being murdered and the boys were afraid to leave you home alone while they went on a hunt.

Sitting in the library, you rubbed your hand across your face and reached for your fourth cup of coffee as you scrolled through multiple websites and blogs trying to find a suggestion that worked.

Dean was out in the garage washing Baby. You could see his frustration with the situation every time he looked at you. You knew it wasn’t directed at you, he loved you and he hated feeling helpless. He hated feeling like he couldn’t do something to fix the problem.

“I don’t see anything,” you told Sam, who was researching across from you.

“I don’t either. These websites suggest the same thing, medications and stress reduction,” Sam replied.

You wanted to cry. “Maybe I should go stay with Jody for a while so you and Dean can get back to hunting.”

Sam reached across the table to take your hand in his. “We are going to figure this out Y/N.”

You nodded, looking away so he wouldn’t see the tears in your eyes. Returning your attention to the computer screen, you were reading another article when Cas walked into the library.

“Hey Cas,” you said, flashing him a small smile.

“Nothing?” he asked, coming to stand behind you and look at the screen.

“No.”

He walked around the table and sat down beside Sam, grabbing a book from the stack in the middle of the table and joining in the research.

Several hours later it became clear it was another wasted day.  You said goodnight and went back to your room. You knew Sam and Dean were tired and needed to get some sleep so you decided to stay up all night. Your plan was to wait until they went to bed and Cas left and then you would go back to the library and read until dawn. Give them a break.

Grabbing the book you were reading from your desk, you quietly walked to the library. You jumped when you saw a figure sitting at the table. “Cas, what are you still doing here?”

“I thought I would spend the evening here…in case…”

You blushed. _In case you wandered into the library asleep and screaming bloody murder._

Sitting down in the soft chair, you left your book unopened on your lap. “I’m sorry this is happening. I know I’m letting you all down.”

Cas looked at you in confusion, his brow furrowed. “Why would you think this?”

You shook your head, suddenly exhausted. “I’m just sorry,” you repeated.  The room was silent and you blinked, knowing you needed to stay awake….

Cas watched you fall asleep in your chair, your head at an awkward angle.  He debated on moving you back to your bedroom, but he was afraid to trigger a new night terror.  Instead, he grabbed the cushion from the other chair and propped it under your head. 

He couldn’t find a blanket and was reluctant to leave you alone, so he shrugged off his trench coat and placed it over your body.

After making sure you were as comfortable as possible he picked a random book from the shelf and sat down to read until the time when you would wake up screaming.

The next morning you woke up in the library and slowly stretched, shrugging Castiel’s trench coat off and standing up before realizing you had slept the entire night without a single nightmare or night terror.

Walking into the kitchen, you saw Sam and Dean sitting at the table with coffee looking more refreshed than you had seen them in days. Cas was leaning up against the counter and you handed him his coat. “Thank you.”

“How did you sleep?” he asked.

“No nightmares. No night terrors,” you confirmed, relief in your voice. “Do you think it will last?”

“One day at a time,” Sam answered.

That night you were nervous to go to bed. What if the terrors came back? What if last night was a fluke? Laying down in bed, you heard a knock on your door. “Yeah?”

Cas opened the door and walked in, shutting it behind him. “I would like to try something Y/N. May I stay with you tonight?” He sat down on your desk chair as he spoke.

“Stay in my room? You don’t have to Cas.”

“I want to,” he insisted, picking up a random book from your shelf. “I want to read this book.”

“You want to read 25 Holiday Cookie Recipes?”

“It’s very interesting,” he replied, flipping a page.

You quietly laughed, watching the angel turn each page until you fell asleep.

Three weeks. Three weeks without a night terror. Three weeks of peaceful sleep for you and the Winchesters. Three weeks that Cas had spent every night in your room while you slept.

Tonight you were in a motel room, your first hunt in over a month successfully completed. Cas was sitting in the chair beside the bed watching TV with the volume off.  Lying in bed, you watched the lights from the screen flash over his handsome face. “Hey Cas?”

He turned to look at you. “Yes Y/N.”

“Do you think they will stay away? I mean, you can’t be expected to sit with me every night for the rest of my life.”

He fidgeted with the remote, his eyes darting around the room. “I would.”

“Would what?”

“I would sit with you every night for the rest of your life.” His blue eyes suddenly met yours and you felt your heartbeat increase.

“Cas?” You sat up, swinging your legs over the edge of the bed to face him.   “Cas what are you saying?”

He didn’t reply. Instead he reached out and rested his hand over yours on the bed. You looked down at your hands before looking back at him. When he leaned forward you moved, meeting him in the middle with a soft kiss.

The night terrors never came back.

 


End file.
